MANILA—San Sebastian doesn’t see today’s match against cellar-dwelling Arellano as a mere warmup for the crucial stretch of the first round in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Stags coach Topex Robinson wants his charges to play without letup against the Chiefs and extend their unbeaten start to seven games at the FilOil-Flying V Arena in San Juan.
Gametime is 11:45 a.m. with San Sebastian seeking to tie defending champion San Beda on top of the standings.
“We can’t take Arellano lightly,” Robinson said. “I want the team to stay aggressive.”
The road ahead will be tougher for the Stags as they will meet the Mapua Cardinals before taking on the Red Lions on Aug. 19.
The clash against San Beda, which swept the Stags in last year’s finals, will decide which team will top the first round.
The Chiefs are looking to end a four-game slide and move out of the basement, which they share with the Perpetual Help Altas.
The Altas also hope to end their woes when they face the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals in the last game at 4 p.m.
The Generals are also on a two-game slide, but remain slight favorites. They showed plenty of fight against San Sebastian, before losing, 70-77, last Wednesday.
Robinson has called on his troops to avoid a repeat of the game against EAC which they allowed to move within two in the final minutes after leading by as many as 21 points.
With his averages of 21.8 points and 11.4 rebounds, Calvin Abueva is expected to assert himself against the Chiefs.